Fort St. Andrews
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| Fort St. Andrews | |
|---|---|
| Cumberland Island, Georgia | |
 Map of Cumberland Island (note the fort would have been located on North West part of the island near Terrapin Point). | |
| Site information | |
| Type | Coastal defense fortification |
| Location | |
  Fort St. Andrews | |
| Coordinates | 30°55′33″N 81°27′04″W / 30.925735°N 81.451188°W |
| Site history | |
| Materials | Earthen, Palisade |
| Battles/wars | Invasion of Georgia (1742) |
Fort St. Andrews was a British colonial coastal fortification built on Cumberland Island, Georgia, in 1736. The fort was built by the British as part of a buffer against Spanish Florida and the colonies to the north. The fort was abandoned and later destroyed by the Spanish in mid-1742.
In 1732, General James Oglethorpe led the colonization of Georgia for Great Britain and chose Savannah as the principal port for the colony. The establishment of the colony had been an issue of contention between Britain and Spain since its foundation. The Spanish claimed the territory for its own colony of Florida and disputed what it regarded as an illegal occupation by the British settlers. The building of Fort Frederica on St. Simons Island (near the mouth of the Altamaha River) in 1736 marked the beginning of General Oglethorpe's defensive plan for Georgia. His thinking was influenced heavily by Georgia's maritime geography, which was primarily an uninterrupted series of coastal barrier islands that formed a natural water route, known as the inland passage, offering protection from unpredictable weather and the harsh conditions of the open sea.[1][2]
